Economic Consulting to Management Consulting

Junior summer will be working at an economic consulting firm (think Brattle/Analysis/NERA/Cornerstone, etc). Depending on how this summer goes, I definitely also want to keep my options open and recruit for management consulting in the fall. I know that the skillsets are pretty different and both industries are very competitive, but I'm wondering if it's possible to make the move into the latter / if anyone here has done so and might have some wisdom to impart. Thanks!

 

It sounds like you will be in Boston or NY, in which case you will be in a city in which all major consulting firms host a summer recruiting reception. Reach out to the UG recruiters for that city and express interest in each firm's respective reception. There will be consultants at other firms, bankers, etc present. You will have to apply, but being on their radar goes a long way.

 
Best Response

What's your experience level like? MBB do hire laterals from other firms, but it's pretty rare unless you really have a lot of experience and specialize in a specific area. Seeing as how you're trying to switch industries (essentially), it sounds to me like it'd be pretty tough and you'd be in for an uphill battle, even though it's tough for me to say without further background details.

I do know that the next tier of firms (Deloitte, Accenture, etc.) are much more open to industry/path switchers that possess some of the requisite "core consulting skills", especially if it's at a firm that they've heard of.

You're best bet, either way, is to network your ass off, since you'll probably want a partner (or equivalent) referral to go to HR. Really do your research and figure out the practice areas that best mesh with your experience to date so it seems like a logical transition to them.

 

I personally tried to do it and found it near impossible. I talked to people at multiple different mgmt consulting firms (MBB excluded, I was unable to make high-enough-up-the-foodchain connections) and was consistently told that I had the "skills", but not the "qualifications".

My sense coming away from the experience is that mgmt consulting firms are very concerned about personal brand and don't want people coming in from other firms that have already established somewhat a brand of their own. Unless you're above the associate level, I think it's hard to convince consulting firms that you have "expertise" worth hiring.

 

All of my experience is specific to my practice area, which is largely focused on the economics of regulation. My work has been all over the board industry-wise. I would have thought this would be a strength if I was interested in a generalist position?

@TopDGO - you tried to make this move from a top econ firm, or from a different "kind" of consulting?

 

Having once been in an economic consulting firm, my suggestion for someone that is actually looking for management consulting is to go to a group like Analysis Group or CRA with "business consulting" practices and try to work on as many strategy assignments as possible and lateral in 1-2 years. My understanding that Cornerstone may be a pure econ/forensic financial consulting shop.

The other route is to stick it out in econ consulting for 2-3 years, go to a top MBA, and then transition over to mgmt consulting. All econ shops feed very well in top programs.

That being said, if you're looking for strategy work, you won't find it in econ consulting. It's an entirely different game and set of clients and situations. Very good, however, for sharpening quant skills. Can't speak about IT consulting.

 

Econ consulting, easily. Aalysis Group has a strategy practice, see if you can get staffed on those cases in your office. Cornerstone and AG both place very well into top B schools.

 

Guys, thanks for you input, it's been very helpful for me. Appreciate it!

I understand that the nature of the work is very different. Looks like the consensus is for Econ Consulting, which definitely makes sense for me. I've also read some other posts about culture/prestige/type of work of the various econ consulting firms on wso, seems like there isn't a huge difference among type of work, but might differ in terms of culture. Right now it's a toss up between Analysis Group and Cornerstone, and because of their strategy practice, I'll probably be going for AG.

I am curious, are there many instances of lateral into strategy, or going into strategy from an MBA? What kind of jobs do people usually go to in after law school/bschool/econ phds?

Honestly from what I've seen so far I do like the work in econ consulting, I would ideally start off with mbb, but just want to make the best of what I can do now.

 
fascimility:
Guys, thanks for you input, it's been very helpful for me. Appreciate it!

I understand that the nature of the work is very different. Looks like the consensus is for Econ Consulting, which definitely makes sense for me. I've also read some other posts about culture/prestige/type of work of the various econ consulting firms on wso, seems like there isn't a huge difference among type of work, but might differ in terms of culture. Right now it's a toss up between Analysis Group and Cornerstone, and because of their strategy practice, I'll probably be going for AG.

I am curious, are there many instances of lateral into strategy, or going into strategy from an MBA? What kind of jobs do people usually go to in after law school/bschool/econ phds?

Honestly from what I've seen so far I do like the work in econ consulting, I would ideally start off with mbb, but just want to make the best of what I can do now.

You can basically write your own ticket post-MBA if you have economic consulting experience (at least when it comes to consulting/banking; buy side is obviously a different story).

Based on my experience most people do finance after ec consulting -->> MBA, but I'm sure that many do strategy work as well. I have also seen people make the move over to strategy consulting after working in ec consulting for a few years. Make sure that you can get staffed on strategy cases at the AG office you have an offer from. All offices may not have a foothold in that area. Based on my interviews and people I know at these firms, AG seems to have a consistently better culture than Cornerstone.

 

One more thing: you should know that Cornerstone has an absolutely solid rep in consultingland. Not MBB, but some top calibre academics lead the organization. I know two guys from UG who went straight out of college: one eventually got his Stanford MBA (Cornerstone has top Berkeley and Stanford academics at the leadership level, not surprising), and the other is fairly high up in operations management at Yahoo. Congrats on the offer, you must have done something right. GL.

 

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